Concerns persist about the state of the U.S. economy have overshadowed the optimism caused by the slight recovery evident on the face of mergers and acquisitions, leading U.S. stock indexes finished down on Monday night.
The Dow Jones closed with a loss of 39.21 points, or 0.38%, to 10,174.41.The Standard & Poor's 500 largest, fell 4.33 points, or 0.40%, to 1067.36 while the Nasdaq Composite ended down 20.13 points (-0.92%) to 2159 63.
The technology has largely underperformed other sectors, driven down by Hewlett-Packard and Dell are waging a fierce battle to take 3PAR, data storage specialist.
HP closed down 2.03% to 39.04 dollars and Dell lost 1.08% to 11.94 dollars, while 3PAR has jumped 44.62% to 26.09 dollars.
These offers are in addition to announcements made last week by Intel that is preparing to resume McAfee and BHP Billiton who covets the Canadian expert potash Potash.
On Monday, sources have reported that Campbell Soup paying serious attention to the British United Biscuits.
Campbell Soup took 0.70% 36.90 dollars.
As the CEO of 3M, he announced Monday that his group would invest about two billion dollars in acquisitions in 2010, double its previous estimate. 3M closed up 0.52% to 81.08 dollars.
"Setting the background of the phenomenon of mergers and acquisitions, which has very little seniority, due to the weakness of economic statistics," said Bucky Hellwig, Vice President of BB & T Wealth Management .
Analysts also point out that activity on the front of M & As is explained primarily by the willingness of companies to generate profits through cost savings rather than through growth in sales.
Telefonica announces a 9.4% increase in earnings in the first half, exceeding expectations, the strength of its overseas operations to compensate for the weakness of its domestic market, Spain.
The Spanish division of the group, which generates one third of total turnover, has been hit hard by the recession and caused concern to investors. But the group said Thursday she was showing signs of improvement.
He has limited the decline in sales to 3.2% in the second quarter, against 5.7% in the first three months of the year.
"These results are solid at all levels, a recovery in Spain offsetting recent fears of a slowdown in consumption.Business in Latin America is solid, "said David Wright, an analyst specializing in telecommunications from Deutsche Bank, adding that the group's activities in Britain and Germany will also reflect well.
The first operator of the euro zone by market capitalization has made a net profit of 3.78 billion euros in the first half, against forecasts for 3.68 billion euros by 10 analysts polled by Reuters.Its first half sales rose to 29.05 billion euros against 28.55 billion expected.
After weeks of fierce fighting, Telefonica has achieved his ends Wednesday in announcing an agreement with Portugal Telecom to repurchase shares of Portuguese in the Brazilian mobile operator Vivo.
In Latin America, which generates 40% of sales, group sales rose 10.2% and gross operating income of 6.1%.
The control of Vivo should allow the group to increase the number of subscribers in Brazil, giving it top spot in this coveted market.
For its part, France Telecom said Thursday a decline in sales and profit margins in the second quarter, but he confirmed the level of its dividend until 2012.
The turboprop manufacturer ATR announced that it recorded 42 orders and delivered 26 aircraft in the first half.
The joint venture of the European group EADS and Italy's Finmeccanica said in a statement that, taking into account the options, the number of orders placed since January 1 amounted to 72 aircraft.
"We will deliver between 50 and 54 aircraft this year," he told a news conference at the Farnborough Airshow near London, Filippo Bagnato, Chief Executive Officer of ATR.
During the presentation of its annual sales results on January 18, ATR stated aim of delivering more than 50 aircraft this year after delivering 54 aircraft to their owners in 2009.
The group, which achieved a turnover of 1.4 billion dollars last year, added provide a stable revenue in 2010.
Mattel announced Friday a lower than expected earnings in the second quarter, a weak euro offset the benefits of licensed Toy Story 3 and strong sales of Hot Wheels.
The manufacturer of the Barbie doll has reported a profit of $ 51.6 million, or 14 cents per share, against 21.5 million (six cents) a year earlier.
Turnover increased 13.4% to $ 1.02 billion but the effects of unfavorable exchange slashed three points to this growth.
The Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S gave an EPS of 15 cents and revenue of $ 1.02 billion.
Sales in the U.S. increased by 17% and 9% in the rest of the world.
Sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels were up 6% and 11% respectively, while those of American Girl fell 4%.
Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the euro had stabilized and he had a better basis than before the debt crisis of the Greek through measures to reduce the debt established in the euro area.
"The euro has stabilized," Merkel said in an interview with German television station N24, according to the text released by the media.
"This is an important signal that banks are conducting stress tests and we have more transparency in the system.And it is gratifying that in contrast with what was in the spring, almost all European countries are now saying that we need to reduce deficits and reliance has structural reforms. "
She added: "Once fully implemented the measures decided reliance has, it will mean that the euro is a stronger base than before the crisis. We must await the results of resistance testing. But we are ready, aves rescue measures of the euro, to stabilize the euro at any time. "
The objective, "not less deficit, a deficit from zero in 2018," insisted Eric Woerth at the presentation of the proposed government reform, Wednesday, June 16 The task is not easy: the deficit in pension schemes (public service, and general system of private supplementary pension schemes) will reach 42.3 billion euros in 2018, when the government stopped the cursor reform. Who will pay?
Employees. It is they who will have to bear the brunt of the effort. For they will have to work longer. The legal age of retirement, currently set at 60, will be gradually increased to 62 in 2016, reflecting an increase of four months each year from 1951 generation. Those who turn 60 in 2016 (the generation born in 1956) will have to wait two more years to retire.Age to automatically receive a full pension will increase from him in the same way from 65 to 67 years. Meanwhile, under the Fillon reform in 2003, the contribution period needed to receive a full pension will be raised to 41 years and three months in 2013 for the generation of 1953 and 1954) and 41.5 years in 2020. These measures on the parameters of age should bring 18.6 billion euros in extra revenue, slightly less than half the need of pension funding in 2018.
Officials. In the name of "fairness" of the reform, the officials of the Public Service will have to pay as much as private sector employees for their retirement. Their contribution rate will increase gradually from 7.85 to 10.55%. The alignment will be spread over ten years, an increase of 0.27% per year. For Eric Woerth, the affect the purchasing power of officials is "very moderate".This, coupled with the abolition of early retirement for employees who have three children and the allocation of the guaranteed minimum under conditions of having quarterly contribution will have a positive financial impact of 4 billion euros in 2018 as calculated by the government.
Read about it: Why pay officials might decrease
Companies. They no longer will not escape "the solidarity effort" required by the pension reform. The calculation of relief on low salaries (up to 1.6 times the SMIC) enjoyed by employers, so far calculated monthly, will be annualized. This means concretely that the thirteenth month and premiums will now be incorporated into the calculation. This measure will yield 2.4 billion euros in 2020.Removing the cap on the share of costs and burdens on dividends received by a parent company from its subsidiaries should add 250 million in 2020. Either a total 2.65 billion euros of new revenues paid by businesses.
Capital. Raise taxes on capital gains from sale securities (stocks, bonds) and real estate, the standard deduction on dividends and interest, taxable capital gains realized on the sale of stock or bond tax income, elimination of tax on dividends received by shareholders, these measures on capital income will yield 1.34 billion euros in 2020.
Rich. Nicolas Sarkozy had announced: high incomes will be involved. The marginal rate of the top of the income tax will rise from 40% to 41%.This "solidarity contribution pension", which will apply to 340,000 tax households reporting more than 69,783 euros a year, will not be taken into account in the tax shield. The measure will yield 290 million in 2020. In addition, payroll taxes on stock options (side beneficiaries and employers) and taxes on pensions hat which directors of large enterprises will be increased. In total, these taxes on the rich should bring 630 million euros in 2020.
The combined revenues related to raising the legal age of retirement, to align the system of public and private that the various taxes and levies increases, and shall rise to 27.2 billion euros 2018. The government also plans to switch the unemployment insurance contributions on pension contributions from 2015, assuming a return to the green accounts Unedic.This shift would provide 1 billion euros of additional revenue in 2018.
The coffee burns. Around 1000 GMT (1200 Paris), Arabica for September delivery traded on the NYBOT-ICE touched 162.95 U.S. cents per pound, its highest level since early March 2008, garnering over 12% compared to Friday last. Robusta (September) traded on Liffe in London soared to 1,595 dollars per tonne, its highest since early March 2009.
"The explosion in prices is explained by fears of supply failing to keep up with demand," commented analyst at Commerzbank.
Indeed, the tight supply from Vietnam and Central America support prices, as fears about the effect expected from the ongoing harvest in Brazil, the largest producer of coffee, according to Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.Furthermore, demand continues to strengthen in key import markets such as Europe, Japan and the United States.
"The markets are catching up after a while to take into account" the tension on the fundamentals of supply and demand, noted Kona Haque, analyst at Macquarie, to the extent that the rebound is reinforced by a renewed interest to speculative investors taking advantage of a slight weakening of the dollar.
"The supply-demand balance of the arabica market suggests another deficit in 2009/2010 season, also highlights the analyst, noting also that the European stocks of coffee have shown a decrease in April .
The greenback fell Wednesday to 1.2353 dollars per euro, its lowest level in two weeks, making them more attractive purchases of raw materials denominated in dollars for investors provided with other currencies.
